My daughter brought a hand-warming muff home from the thrift store and said, “Here, you might be able to do something with this.” I peeled away the soiled faux-fur sleeve to find a small feather bag within. The tag on the pull string at bottom reads, “pull gently”.________________________

Pantyhose is a series of works in a variety of media that explore pantyhose as object, artifact and metaphorical construct from the point of view of the wearer. These works concern both visible and not-so-visible (sheer?) controls intended to re-surface the forms and functions of human bodies. The acts of making are exposed and indulged through an invented vocabulary of thread-work, with results that are variously delicate and coarse, elegant and clownish.

The phenomenon of human conditioning to the trappings of restraint is evidenced by a timely image: on television, the Trump campaign stage and 5 women wearing Caucasoid-nude high heels and color-matched stockings. As if the shoes had emerged fully formed at the ends of their legs. Bendy Barbie legs with finial feet; 10 legs counted; 10 the same. One wobbled.

The societal function of sameness has—I suppose—some value, although many would like to think not. Images of sameness wherein conformity is a condition for inclusion are imposed on the beheld and beholder alike, and to an extent they let us believe that we exist in an orderly world, yet our quirky, individualistic preferences persist. —mls